Page 70 of The Bratva's Bounty
My fingers dragged themselves along my scar, causing a shiver to roll down my body. "The bottle caught me, leaving a deep wound that probably won't ever disappear." My vision in my left eye was never the same after that night, either. I wasn't completely blind or anything, but the difference between my left and right eye was pretty stark.
A sad but grateful smile curved at Nicole's lips as she stroked my face, giving my scar a little more attention than usual. "Thank you for telling me, Lev." She sounded proud, making me puff my chest out a little at the satisfied feeling welling up inside of it.
Taking her hand, I kissed it with a smile. "Thank you for being patient with me, for not pushing me until I was ready, and for staying with me despite how difficult I am as a person." I mean, I wasn't the worst person to be with compared to a lot, but I knew I was a huge pain in the ass still.
Giggling, Nicole leaned up and kissed me longingly. "It should be me thanking you for not running away from my crazy ass and learning to love all my strangeness." She rebutted, laughing softly as she pinched my cheek. "Seriously, I thought for sure you would have run off after I chloroformed your ass and marked you," she reminded me with a hearty laugh that lasted a short second before her face turned saccharine. "Not that I would have let you because, ya know, you are mine and all."
"There's my little psycho empress," I mused with a chuckle.
Chapter 31
Nicole
Okay, sounds in themiddle of the night shouldn't be too odd out here in the wilderness, especially in the middle of the night. But sometimes…
Creeeeeeak…
I did not like the way my heart clenched with fear at the sound of wood giving under some weight. Sitting up in the bed, I reached over to the slumbering giant beside me and shook him. "Lev!" I shouted at him in a hushed whisper.
Creeeak… Creak… Creee…
The sinking feeling in my gut was validated when Lev instantly shot up in bed and grabbed his gun at light speed. Jumping out of bed, he moved to the door, pressing his back flat against the wall next to it. "Nicole, go hide," he commanded me in a sturdy voice, nodding toward the closet. "There's a saferoom in the closet. Code is six, six, eight, five, seven, zero."
Scrunching my face up into a scowl, I glared at him defiantly as I got out of bed and reached under the mattress, pulling out some small bombs. "I can help." Well, I might do a lot more damage than anything, but it was better than him handling whatever was out there on his own.
Too bad Lev wasn't gonna have any of it. "No. Either you behave and hide, or I will knock your ass out and shove it in that closet." He set my two options out in the open with an unmoving expression. "I am not having you risk your life when you don't have to."
My scowl deepened with displeasure as I gripped the handful of bombs tightly. "No, we are in this together. That means I fight with you, not go run and hide while you take care of our issues." Not the wisest time to start an argument, but like hell was I gonna let him boss me around like that.
I barely caught the sight of his chest rising with his deep breath in the dimly lit room. "Nicole. I swear to God, I will fucking knock your ass out in the next ten seconds if I don't see you moving." And he was probably smart for not engaging my stubborn ass.
Creak. Creak. Creak. Creak. Creak.
"Nicole!" Lev barked at me in a hushed voice, his glaring eyes burning holes toward the closet.
Biting my tongue, I huffed and retreated to the closet without any fight. Lev needed to have his full focus on whatever was beyond that door, and the more I thought about it, the more logic sunk into me.
Whatever made the noise that crept closer and closer to us would be right on the other side of the bedroom door in a matter of seconds. So, we were basically cornered. Throwing a bomb in an open street or an alleyway was one thing, but throwing a bomb in this situation was a bad story waiting to be written to life. The chances of Lev and I being caught in the blast were pretty high. I wasn't willing to risk it like I did the other day with the goons my parents sent after us.
Making my way to the back of the closet, I quickly located the keypad after feeling around for a quick second. Punching the numbers in the dark was a bitch, though. I was about to slam my fist against the wall when the thing beeped at me in error for the fourth time I fucked up the code. Thankfully, the fifth time was the charm.
Standing at the threshold of the saferoom, I turned my head back to look at the parted closet door, debating for a split second if I should try to help Lev. Inching in the direction of the closet's door, my feet threatened to carry mybody back out until I forced myself into the metal room and slammed the door shut behind me.
The room wasn't huge, but it was roomy enough. Inside the metal room were boxes of canned food, M.R.E.s, boxes of bullets, guns, knives, radios, batteries, an old-ish computer system, and a wall of screens with active video around the cabin.
My frantic eyes carefully scanned the screens, stopping at the one that showed the hallway. "Oh no."
I could feel a chill settle in my paling face when I saw the number of armed men lining the hallway and crowding around our bedroom door. It was hard to make out the exact number of men with the poor lighting and grainy feed, but I counted at least ten.
I have to help Lev.
The shittiest girlfriend in the world title would be waiting for me if I didn't try to help Lev out of this jam after seeing what he was up against. But what could I do? All my drones and other materials were packed away and sitting pretty in boxes by the front door, and the only bombs I had on me were too dangerous to set off inside the cabin.
Shit, shit, shit. Come on, Nicole, think, think!
Pacing around, I tapped my fingernail against my teeth. Then, I made the mistake of peeking at the screen again, making my panic rise a little when I saw how much more crowded the hallway became.
I needed to calm down. I wouldn't be any help if my thoughts raced out of my control.